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UK firm Freshfields has taken on Kent Rowey, a US qualified lawyer, as partner in the International Project Finance Group. He joins from the London office of US firm Perkins Coie.

US firm Coudert Brothers has appointed nine partners from a group formerly at the New York office of Whitman Breed Abbot & Morgan. The group concentrates on project and asset-based finance and leasing, as well as product placement and aircraft finance. George Lee leads the group, which comprises: David Bamberger, Anne Brower, Michael Kelly, Henry Moriello, David Schmidt, Joseph Schmidt, Christopher Stephens and Mary Voce. They have practised together for over 15 years. Lee says: "We selected Coudert Brothers because the firm conforms to our vision of the law firm of the future. It has great depth in providing sophisticated international and local legal representation on a global basis."

Despite press reports, US firm Baker & McKenzie has denied that it is to close its second Vietnamese office in Hanoi after failing to secure a new branch licence. The office had been operating as a representative office under the old practice rules while the application for a branch licence was processed. Most foreign firms have already received licences for their first office, with Baker & McKenzie setting up in Ho Chi Minh City.

Consistent with the aim of promoting finance market stability and the free movement of capital, the Commission has proposed a Directive (based on Article 100A of the EC Treaty) targeting 'systemic risk' in payment systems. The risk of one link in the chain of a payment system failing to meet its liabilities and passing disastrous consequences on to other participants will be reduced by the new rules on settlement finality and collateral security.

An open wholesale electricity market is expected to be fully operational by October 1 1996. This follows the successful introduction earlier this year of an interim electricity market and the split of the state-owned generator, Electricorp, into two competing generators.

John Worthy and Duncan Calow of Denton Hall, London, examine the implications of digital technologies for the regulation of banking and financial services in the UK

US venture capital firm Forstmann Little has acquired Tennessee hospital management company Community Health Systems in a $1.4 billion transaction.

Australia's third largest firm, Freehill Hollingdale & Page, has announced the closure of its London office from August 31. Resident partner Kevin Lewis says: "Australia is getting smaller and smaller vis-à-vis the rest of the world. Investors prefer newer markets such as South America or South-East Asia, where they get higher returns."

When the second wave of sell-offs is completed, international law firms will have to compete for a niche in Budapest's financial markets. By Richard Forster

The Czech Republic's economy is into a second phase of development. Privatization is almost over and reforms are now stiffening regulation. The lawyers that are left must prepare for long-term work, not brief transactions. Paul Lee reports